Little Giant Incubation Experiment - Day 21 - Hatch Day!

[Math]

I did my eggtopsies today on my 10 eggs. .. didn't give me many answers. The air sac was good size, none internally pipped, none shrink wrapped. ... they varied in size and development. . Not sure if that is just due to the fact I had at least 3 different kinds. .. I have photos but don't know the rules on posting them.

I'm sorry. It's seems to me that the temperature was too low. I usually run my temperature above the recommended temperature about 102 to 104 at the top of the eggs in my still air incubator. Toward the end of the incubation I have to be careful to not let the temperature run up too high due to the eggs producing their own heat. I have a 9200 LG still air with turner. I hope you have a better hatch next time. God bless.

 

[Math]

I finished my hatch Monday with 45 hatched chicks in my LG still air incubator. I had stacked eggs in my LG incubator thinking I would have a lot of infertile eggs. It turned out I had only 2 infertile eggs that I tossed out.

Of the eggs that didn't make it, four chicks zipped but did not make it out of the eggs. Some others eggs pipped but did not make it. I think some of the problem with those that quit was due to me being at work all day and I was not able to be home and attend to my crowded incubator. I'm still happy with the hatch.

I have already given away over half of this hatch to friends. I am happy to hatch the chicks and our friends are happy to get chicks.

 

[fiset94]

Day 24... one fav chick was dead in the shell - yoke sack about 1/4 left.. head was tucked down into wing. - The next chic was malpositioned and when I did a remove a small bit off the top I could see about 1/4 egg yoke at the top. Put back in bator and covered with wet paper towel... found not moving in the shell this morning.

Last egg had the best chance.. When I did a small pip hole I could see the beak.. but it had not broke through the membrane yet. I made a small opening.. just enough for the beak to move... about 3 hours later the beak was 1/3 out of the membrane and although I did not hear it cheep.. I could see it opening and closing it's beak for air.

This morning... the beak was completely out of the membrane.. but no movement... I opened up the shell and the yoke sack was fully absorbed- no malformations...

so sad to have lost these three chicks... they were going to be my olive eggers... I just don't know what I keep doing wrong... I gave them an extra 3 days- because I believed that the low temp could be the problem.. Maybe I should of tried to make a pip hole sooner for egg number 3... maybe he got too big for the shell to even get himself out?? THe cell was good size... he was not wet- or shrinkwrapped. - and everything looked okay.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Day 24... one fav chick was dead in the shell - yoke sack about 1/4 left.. head was tucked down into wing. - The next chic was malpositioned and when I did a remove a small bit off the top I could see about 1/4 egg yoke at the top. Put back in bator and covered with wet paper towel... found not moving in the shell this morning.

Last egg had the best chance.. When I did a small pip hole I could see the beak.. but it had not broke through the membrane yet. I made a small opening.. just enough for the beak to move... about 3 hours later the beak was 1/3 out of the membrane and although I did not hear it cheep.. I could see it opening and closing it's beak for air.

This morning... the beak was completely out of the membrane.. but no movement... I opened up the shell and the yoke sack was fully absorbed- no malformations...

so sad to have lost these three chicks... they were going to be my olive eggers... I just don't know what I keep doing wrong... I gave them an extra 3 days- because I believed that the low temp could be the problem.. Maybe I should of tried to make a pip hole sooner for egg number 3... maybe he got too big for the shell to even get himself out?? THe cell was good size... he was not wet- or shrinkwrapped. - and everything looked okay.

I average about three in each hatch that doesn't make it out. It doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong. Eggs are like individual people. Each one has it's own set of needs and we can not fullfill those needs with 100% of the eggs most of the time. Egg A might be more porous and loose moisture faster and need higher humidity, egg b might be less porous and would need lower humidity. Egg c might be sitting in an unknown cool spot in the incubator and not be getting the full amount of heat that it really needs. The variables are just to great for us in our little table top (some of us cheapo styrofoam) bators. A good share of the time it's hard to tell why it didn't hatch. You can't second guess yourself in hatching. If the majority of your hatch was good then you know that you did good, if it was just ok, then you know that you are on the right track, and maybe need to tweak a couple things, but you're getting there.

 

[lazy gardener]

Egglets slowly but surely moving forward toward lock down. Eggs are filling nicely, but air cells are way too small. Next time, I'll be sure to go back to using a sponge instead of putting water in a container. So much easier to control humidity with a sponge. I'm thinking of taking all eggs and putting them upright in cartons to hatch. I had a lot of chicks that were either malpositioned, or never pipped, though fully formed at last hatch. I was hoping that this hatch would yield different results, but fear it will be more of the same, and perhaps worse due to humidity issues. My plan is to run completely dry until lock down on Sunday night (day 18) Oh, AAAAMMMMYYYYYY! What do you think? Would you push lock down an extra day? Perhaps hold off on increasing humidity until Monday morning when I have to go back to work?

 

[WVduckchick]

I'm not Amy, I'm just curious, what has your humidity been running?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Egglets slowly but surely moving forward toward lock down. Eggs are filling nicely, but air cells are way too small. Next time, I'll be sure to go back to using a sponge instead of putting water in a container. So much easier to control humidity with a sponge. I'm thinking of taking all eggs and putting them upright in cartons to hatch. I had a lot of chicks that were either malpositioned, or never pipped, though fully formed at last hatch. I was hoping that this hatch would yield different results, but fear it will be more of the same, and perhaps worse due to humidity issues. My plan is to run completely dry until lock down on Sunday night (day 18) Oh, AAAAMMMMYYYYYY! What do you think? Would you push lock down an extra day? Perhaps hold off on increasing humidity until Monday morning when I have to go back to work?

Small air cells, no pips, I sure would.

I agree. Much easier to control humidity with a sponge the first 17 days.

 

[SimplyLogan]

I think my hatch is over. I have two left in the incubator that showed movement yesterday. The others hatched two days ago so I'm not holding out much hope for those.

Good news
8/12 project bird 66%
9/10 Cream Legbar 90%
7/7 BYM 100%

none of these were shipped eggs, I only set my eggs and the eggs I picked up locally (kinda of local)

pretty please with the LG even though I gave me some fits at the end

 

[fiset94]

I average about three in each hatch that doesn't make it out. It doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong. Eggs are like individual people. Each one has it's own set of needs and we can not fullfill those needs with 100% of the eggs most of the time. Egg A might be more porous and loose moisture faster and need higher humidity, egg b might be less porous and would need lower humidity. Egg c might be sitting in an unknown cool spot in the incubator and not be getting the full amount of heat that it really needs. The variables are just to great for us in our little table top (some of us cheapo styrofoam) bators. A good share of the time it's hard to tell why it didn't hatch. You can't second guess yourself in hatching. If the majority of your hatch was good then you know that you did good, if it was just ok, then you know that you are on the right track, and maybe need to tweak a couple things, but you're getting there.

I am just so upset with the lack of being able to even hatch out ONE egg.. I seriously must of set over 40 eggs - different breeds- and times... and still not one has hatched. I have not even got one to Pip internally. Sigh.

I have three batches left... then I am going to throw in the towel. My next lockdown was supposed to start yesterday but I held off until today... I candled and the chicks seemed small- the shadowing wasn't completely up to the top of the aircell.

I had issues with humidity first... then I went dry. I then had issues with temp. Probe was inserted at top of bator and after realizing the HUGE difference in putting it in the side- decided that the problem was low temps.

This will be my 2nd attempt to hatch out this breed.. Araucana- rumpless- I have heard that they are very difficult to hatch... but they mean SO much to my 10 year old daughter. She says that they look amazing and wants to have 2 in our barn...... I have been on a hunt for over 6 weeks to try a find a couple hens that someone is selling... and I can't even find that . She is an amazing kid... and not meaning to give the whole violin story... but she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year- and this whole incubating project was supposed to be a very special project for her and I.... It makes it that more frustrating when I can't even find the chickens that she wants to buy.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm not Amy, I'm just curious, what has your humidity been running?

My goal has been 30%. I'll tell you about the last hatch first: I think my last hatch (66%) was partially due to eggs being too wet, and temp fluctuation in the bator between high and low temp spots. I did rotate the eggs around to help accommodate for that. There was also a huge discrepancy in size, with jumbo pioneer eggs (0% hatch) and smaller Dom and RCBL eggs, (decent hatch percentage) Good showing for BSL eggs that were a nice size. The larger eggs were definitely too wet. I also think that a lot of the chicks grew too big, most likely due to the vitamin supplementation that I did as part of my experiment. I was better able to manage humidity with that batch due to burning wood, though there was difficulty getting up to 65% at lock down, and I had some dry membranes, assisted hatches due to that.

Now, for this hatch: Again, goal was 30% but, I didn't worry if it got up to 40%. Several times, it was a bit dry, so I added water, only to have a low front move in and there would be several days, if not a whole week of rain which kept it up to 40 - 50% for a few days at a time. I also was not burning wood as much, so the house wasn't as dry. Right now, without water, and nice weather predicted from now to hatch, the bator humidity has dropped down to 16%.

Small air cells, no pips, I sure would.

I agree. Much easier to control humidity with a sponge the first 17 days.

Do you think running as low as 11% between now and lock down will affect membranes in terms of them being too dry, or even too tough?

I think my hatch is over. I have two left in the incubator that showed movement yesterday. The others hatched two days ago so I'm not holding out much hope for those.

Good news
8/12 project bird 66%
9/10 Cream Legbar 90%
7/7 BYM 100%

none of these were shipped eggs, I only set my eggs and the eggs I picked up locally (kinda of local)

pretty please with the LG even though I gave me some fits at the end

Did the majority of them hatch on day 21? Good percentages. What's your project?

I am just so upset with the lack of being able to even hatch out ONE egg.. I seriously must of set over 40 eggs - different breeds- and times... and still not one has hatched. I have not even got one to Pip internally. Sigh.

I have three batches left... then I am going to throw in the towel. My next lockdown was supposed to start yesterday but I held off until today... I candled and the chicks seemed small- the shadowing wasn't completely up to the top of the aircell.

I had issues with humidity first... then I went dry. I then had issues with temp. Probe was inserted at top of bator and after realizing the HUGE difference in putting it in the side- decided that the problem was low temps.

This will be my 2nd attempt to hatch out this breed.. Araucana- rumpless- I have heard that they are very difficult to hatch... but they mean SO much to my 10 year old daughter. She says that they look amazing and wants to have 2 in our barn...... I have been on a hunt for over 6 weeks to try a find a couple hens that someone is selling... and I can't even find that . She is an amazing kid... and not meaning to give the whole violin story... but she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year- and this whole incubating project was supposed to be a very special project for her and I.... It makes it that more frustrating when I can't even find the chickens that she wants to buy.

I wish you the best with your next attempt. I know I sound like a broken record, but: Have you read hatching 101 and specifically the info about "dry hatching?" Have you calibrated your thermometers (use a good digital or even bulb type medical grade thermometer and calibrate it to 100 degrees.) and hygrometer (with the salt test)? Have you checked all locations in the bator for temp variation? Now, regarding Araucana chicks. My understanding is that the rumpless trait is also associated with a lethal gene, which is most likely why that breed is so difficult to find. What about ordering a batch from a hatchery, and then selling the extras? I do hope your daughter is doing well regarding her cancer. I'll pray for her today.